US derails UN declaration
the us has rejected key clauses of a un declaration on debt, trade, human rights, global security and terrorism, to be signed by heads of state at the Millenium+5 summit, a pivotal un conference to be held in New York on September 14-16, 2005. It has proposed over 400 last minute amendments to the 36-page draft document and is being criticised for doing so. The draft's unfocused agenda left it open for criticism from many countries since it's release on August 5, 2005, but the us ' amendments indicate the summit may not achieve the broad un reforms hoped for.
John Bolton, us ambassador to the un, proposed that he was in principle ready to replace the entire document with a short non contentious statement, or break the agreement up into different sections, which countries could sign individually. The us holds the amendments should not have been a surprise, as they reflect its commonly known positions. They delete references to the Millennium Development Goals (mdg s) and time bound quantitative targets on reducing poverty. Instead, they refer to "internationally agreed upon development goals' without quantitative targets. The Millenium Project, the independent un advisory body focusing on mdgs, is the most threatened party in the negotiations. The us proposal also removes reference to the target to raise aid to 0.7 per cent of national incomes and removes a proposal to front load present aid money against future aid commitments. Reference to the Kyoto Protocol, a global treaty to fight climate change, has also been dropped.
The g-77 group of developing nations also wanted some changes in the draft declaration; it opposed conditionality on loans, aid and debt and called for language stronger than an "invitation' for developed nations to commit 0.7 per cent of their national incomes to aid. It also said the push for concluding World Trade Organisation negotiations by 2006 should not let developing country concerns be sidelined. Nitin Desai, former un undersecretary general, said the draft should also have focussed on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment, a un report that identifies priorities for action to combat the degradation of environmental resources.